Cronenberg's Crash is a careening hit and run

Unfortunately, hardly anyone is charismatic or funny or sexy in Crash. Holly Hunter in sexual extremis is a lot more harsh and impenetrable than Marilyn Chambers (whom she resembles) was in Cronenberg's Rabid. Koteas, the Canadian art-house answer to De Niro, plays Vaughan with a glazed urgency that recalls, in looks and expressiveness, De Niro's Frankenstein. About the only one who comes off well is Rosanna Arquette, in the role of Vaughan's most glamorously mutilated lieutenant. Using an array of support garments and body braces with humorous self-awareness, she gives new meaning to the phrase "trick leg."

Crash.
James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, and Rosanna Arquette. Written by David Cronenberg, from the novel by J. G. Ballard. Directed by Cronenberg. Opens Friday.